Sport
-
Cricket
Karnataka optimistic of title defence
By Our Staff Reporter
VISAKHAPATNAM, JAN. 2. Karnataka for the first time failed to be among the qualifiers from the South Zone in the Ranji Trophy championship, but the team was optimistic of retaining the K.S. Subbaiah Pillai Trophy in the limited-overs tournament commencing here on Thursday.
Karnataka takes on Tamil Nadu in its first round-robin match at the MCV Stadium here. ``We will do our best to retain the trophy. We can't underestimate any team in the one-day tournament and a lot depends on how a team clicks on the day,'' Mr. S.M.H. Kirmani, manager of the Karnataka team and the former wicketkeeper-batsman of the Indian team, summed up the team's chances on Wednesday.
Anil Kumble was still resting his shoulder and did not come here. Karnataka included four youngsters: Dharmichand, a specialist off-spinner who was unfortunate not to be included in the Indian team for the Junior World Cup, observed Kirmani, Aditya Mishra, an opening batsman, Afan Sharriff, an all-rounder who bowls medium-pace and Sudhindra Shinde, an all-rounder who bowls off-spin, for the limited-over tournament.
On the team's performance in the Ranji Trophy, he said that the team was the best but could not live upto its reputation and potential, this season and also last season. It was not that Karnataka played badly but other teams played better. The absence of Test players also was one of the reasons, he added.
He highly complimented Andhra on topping the Ranji league table and called the victory a creditable one. The spirited players applied themselves well and the coach, Syed Abid Ali brought out the best in them, Kirmani said.
Tamil Nadu will be without the services of S. Ramesh, Aasish Kapoor and S. Mahesh. Coach, Mr. K. Bharat Kumar, said he did not know the reason why Ramesh was not in the team. Tamil Nadu included batsman Vasanth Sarvanan, opening bat Dandapani and medium-pacer Vignesh, the Madras University player, who had done very well in the recently-concluded South Zone inter-university tournament at Vijayawada.
The teams (from):
Karnataka: Arun Kumar (capt.), Mithun Beerala, R. Barrington, Vijay Bharadwaj, Tilak Naidu (wicket- keeper), B. Akhil, Sunil Joshi, Dodda Ganesh, Venkatesh Prasad, N.V. Ayyappa, Aditya Mishra, Afan Sharriff, Dharmichand and Sudhindra Shinde. Coach: Syed Kirmani. Asst. Manager: J. Abhiram.
Tamil Nadu: Robin Singh (capt.), S. Sarath, S. Sriram, V. Saravanan, Dandapani, Hemang K. Badani, C. Hemant Kumar, T.R. Arasu, Rajat Bhatia, M.R. Shrinivas, L. Balaji, R. Ramkumar, G. Vignesh, S. Suresh and J.R. Madangopal. Coach: K. Bharat Kumar. Manager: K.S. Viswanathan.
Umpires: Mr. S.K. Porel (Bengal) and Mr. A. Bhattacharjee (Assam). Match Referee: Mr. Gulrej Ali (MP).
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Sport
|
